Adventure tourism Mangistau.

"...The remains of the flourishing era of Mangyshlak have been preserved in the fairly frequent ruins of stone fortifications, buildings, grave monuments and deep wells lined with hewn stone."

P.S. Savelyev. Russian archaeologist, orientalist-Arabist, numismatist, corresponding member of St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. XIX century.

Secondary wellness tourism Mangyshlak.

Underground mosque Beket ata (Old Beineu), located at an altitude of 63 meters above sea level, is located in eastern part of ancient necropolis of same name, 13.6 kilometers southeast of saline marsh Mertvy Kultuk, 22.7 kilometers west and slightly south of village of Sangyrlau, 16.3 kilometers southwest of regional center of village of Beineu, 2.3 kilometers southwest of Aktau - Beineu highway in Beineu district in east of Mangistau region. 
Old Beineu is a small settlement, which until recently consisted of several adobe houses of shepherds, located in the place where the ancient caravan route leading to the lower reaches of the Emba River rises to Ustyurt. There is a spring here, to which the settlement and the ancient necropolis owe their origin.
After a difficult crossing of the Caspian saline desert, travelers stopped at this fertile spring. It is possible that there was a caravanserai here, but no traces of it were found. The entrance to the Old Beyneu mosque is symbolized by a beautiful brick arch and a kilometer-long alley of trees, which leads to a large complex of ancient burials - Old Beyneu.
The underground mosque is cut into the massif of a rocky cape. At the entrance to the mosque, oriented to the southwest, there is a well, according to M. Mendikulov, the well was built in the 60s of the XXth century, by a descendant of Beket ata - Mynzhasar Bektileuov.
The main room of the mosque is round in plan (diameter about 4.5 meters). The ceiling has the shape of a flat dome. In general, the interior imitates a Kazakh yurt. Judging by the presence of a mihrab niche on the southwestern wall, this is a prayer hall.
On the western side, it is adjoined by a semicircular room, in which the floor level is raised like a sufa behind the corner pylons. Apparently, this room was intended for pilgrims to rest. On the northern side, the hall is connected by a wide passage with a third room, which is not inferior to it in size.
The purpose of this room is not entirely clear. It could have been either an additional area for the prayer hall or a storage room. A narrow doorway of this room connects it with another - the fourth, adjoining it on the eastern side. The walls of all the rooms of the mosque are smoothly hewn and have no traces of decorative design, with the exception of shallow niches for lamps.
In 2004, with the support of the district akimat, restoration work was carried out. During the work, doors were installed, the destroyed parts of the roof were cemented, and the path leading to the mosque was landscaped with pedestrian sidewalks. A guest house for pilgrims was rebuilt, trees were planted.
The underground mosque Beket ata (Beineu) was accepted for state registration and protection of republican significance in 1982 by the decision of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR. 
Geographic coordinates of underground mosque Old Beyneu: N45 ° 11'04 E55 ° 06'32

Authority:
«Monuments of the Central Asia». The author of M. Khahsimov. Publishing house,  Saga, 2001

Alexander Petrov'
photos by.